Southwest Kansas hospitals are experiencing a blood shortage,reports The Garden City Telegram.Last month, blood donations expired at two area hospital laboratories, and another facility did not have a full stock of blood last week. The scarcity has largely been caused by recent inclement weather in the area. Kansas health officials are urging residents to give blood.
Jan Hale, communications manager for the Central Plains Blood Services Region of the American Red Cross, explained: “The weather forced hundreds of blood drives to be canceled, and thousands of donations went uncollected.”
38 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood at any given time. But less than 10 percent of those who are eligible donate annually, according to the Red Cross. That means only about 3 percent of the total U.S. population gives blood each year.
